How Quickly The Flowers Fade
by dreketh
Summary: Karkat is stuck, has been for a while now. Will things turn tide? Will they return to normal? - Love triangle between KK, TZ, And Nep Rated T for some suggestive themes


Your name is Karkat Vantas and you're super excited. You're finally going to ask Terezi Pyrope, the woman of your dreams and your girlfriend of 3 years, to marry you. Needless to say, you're nervous.

You have the mood set just right. It's a fancy, romantic restaurant where the food is superb, the lights are turned down low, and you and your bodacious lover are dressed in your very best. You yourself are dressed in a black sports jacket with a candy red, long sleeve button down shirt, a pair of slightly uncomfortable slacks, a pair of black suede shoes, and a black leather belt with your signature cancer symbol pressed into it...you feel like a stuffed penguin. Terezi, on the other hand, is wearing a beautiful, teal floor-length dress that flowed as she walked. She wore candy red earrings and a pair of stilettos to match. Her face was adorned with Black lipstick that complemented her eyes perfectly. The Mood is perfect right now, it could never be more perfect, just air and opportunity. Just imagine, you, Karkat Vantas, once the lowest of the low, are now C.E.O of Skaia Corporation, and you're about to ask the apple of your eye to join you in holy matrimony.

But why can't you find the courage to do it, I mean it's so easy. Just get down on one knee, and say "Terezi, will you marry me?" I mean it's so simple. But. You. Just. Can't. Do. It.

You suddenly snap back to reality and see your soon to be wife staring at the menu, pondering what to order. You pick up the menu yourself and take a quick look at it before the waiter appears. You look over at him and see that it's none other than Equius Zahhak, a long time friend of yours, even when you were no more than a simple beggar.

EQ-"Why hello Mr. Vantas, Ms. Pyrope, It is a pleasure to see you this fine evening"

KK-"Hey Equius, long time no see, how's work going?"

EQ-"Work has been extraordinary, I was recently promoted to head waiter"

TZ-"Congratulations Equius"

EQ-"Thank you Terezi"

EQ-"Now, May I start you two off with some of our fine wine? We have quite a selection this evening"

KK-"Yes, we'll have your finest chardonnay"

EQ-"Ah, yes, going all out this evening, are we?"

Equius flashes you a reassuring smile. He knows what this evening is all about. You flash him a sheepish smile in return.

Suddenly you have a brilliant idea. You quickly get up and claim to need a restroom, but you hastily sprint over to the wine rack where equius is making a withdraw from it. They really do have an impressive selection, you can worry about that later though. You walk up to Equius, quickly scanning your surrounding areas to make sure Terezi isn't watching.

KK-"Hey, Equius"

EQ-"Oh my, Karkat, what are you doing over here, shouldn't you be with your date?"

KK-"nevermind that. Listen, I need you to do me a favor"

EQ-"Oh, but of course, what is it?"

You quickly dig deep into your pocket and pull out a small velvet box. You open it to reveal an astounding diamond ring with inset rubies and turquoise intricately woven down the sides of the band. You hand it to Equius, who seems a bit confused

KK-"Listen, I need you to figure out someway to deliver this to Terezi"

EQ-"Oh, well, um, How do you suppose I do that?"

KK-"I don't know. Hide it in the food, put it in the breadbasket, just figure out something. I mean, after all, you are a genius, aren't you?"

EQ-"I will do my best"

Equius places his hand on your shoulder, assuring you that this would go over flawlessly. He suggests that you make your way back over to your table. Terezi seems to be getting worried

==Be The Worry Wart======

Worry Wart? You're not worrying that bad are you?

No, you just think that Karkat's taking an awful long time in the restroom. It's probably that Chinese food that the two of you ate last night. Karkat never took too well to foreign foods. It probably didn't help that he dumped enough soy-sauce on it to turn the river Nile black. Your mind starts wandering about different things, but you quickly regain your thoughts as karkat approaches. He seems a bit nervous

TZ-"Hey, did everything go over all right in there?"

KK-"hm? Oh, yeah, there was just a line to use the bathroom"

TZ-"Oh, alright then"

TZ-"Oh, hey, here comes Equius with the wine"

EQ-"Greetings, tonight you will be enjoying a fine glass of Les Pierres Chardonnay, a personal favorite"

Equius pours the two of you a healthy glass of wine into the dainty wine glasses, which you sip slowly, complementing equius on his refined tastes. You glance up at Karkat and flash him a closed-eye smile.

Odd, he seems a bit shaky, It's probably nothing

==Be the shaky idiot======

You're nervous as shit.

You keep reassuring yourself that everything is going to go as planned, but you can't help but to let your mind wander to the possibility that things could go horribly, HORRIBLY wrong. You look up at Terezi as she flashes you that adorable, closed-eye smile that she has. God, is she precious. You feel a tinge of unworthiness, but quickly brush it off. you glance down at your wine glass and realize that you're a bit shaky. You're nerves are totally wrecked right now. Hopefully Equius pulls through for you. But what if he doesn't? What if he forgets the ring? what if hE PUTS THE RING INSIDE THE DESSERT, AND ONE OF THEM ACCIDENTALLY SWALLOWS IT AND CHOKES TO DEATH?!

You regain your composure, realizing that the idea is completely absurd, and that Equius is way too smart to make a careless mistake like that, right?

==Be The Waiter======

You're pretty much on your own tonight, not that it matters really, it's relatively slow tonight, only a few tables full, and besides, you can outwork every other waiter here anyways. That is why you were promoted to head, after all. You're about to go out and take Terezi and Karkat's order, all the while thinking of a good way to deliver the ring to the bride-to-be.

EQ-"I assume that you are both ready to order? Perhaps I can start you off with an appetizer"

KK-"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm ready, you ready TZ?"

TZ-"Mhmm"

KK-"Ok, umm, we'll take the fried oysters and cheese sticks as an appetizer, and I'll take the baked strozzapreti al forno with baked Gnocchi on the side and plenty of red-wine mushroom sauce. Terezi?"

TZ-"Let's see, I'll take the cream cheese, celery, and alfredo Agnelotti with a side of Shrimp Scampi, and is there anyway you can substitute the celery for broccoli or portabella mushrooms?"

EQ-"Of course, will that be all?"

Both of them nod in agreement. It's a good thing that this restaurant is kept at an even 65 degrees, else you would be sweating like a swine on his way to the slaughter house.

You're still unsure as to how you're going to deliver the ring. You're a genius, that doesn't mean you're creative. You hand the order slip to the head chef, Kurloz, who immediately begins to slice and dice the ingredients for the order. You're glad to see that he's alive and well after the incident that happened mere weeks prior to today. You frantically begin brainstorming on the proper delivery, when it suddenly hits you. You smile slyly because of how clever your idea is.

Kurloz is almost ready with the meal, my goodness, does he work fast for a mute.

==Be the nervous wreck======

Actually, you're not all that nervous anymore, the wine's helped to calm your nerves quite a bit, thank goodness for thirty year old chardonnays. You and Terezi have since engaged in quite a bit of pointless chit-chat, banter, and small talk, mostly involving recent happenings and other events of little importance. Mostly, you've been staring off into each others eyes, daydreaming. This is the life right? A quarter-drunk, dorky business owner and a fiery teal goddess, perfect couple, amiright?

You begin to wiggle out of your sport coat. Despite it being 65 degrees in here, that sportcoat is like a sauna on fire, in a volcano, and on the sun. Ok, maybe that's over exaggerating a little. Yeah, just a little. You set aside all those outlandish thoughts you were having earlier, and instead you focus on having a wonderful, and memorable, evening with the girl of your dreams.

==Be The Dream Girl======

Karkats staring at you in that adorable way that he does. It was always one of his cuter perks, that, and how protective he is over people, and not to mention those abs, hot damn! He was impressively chiseled for his size, he has to credit equius for that, and all the countless hours of physical fitness training that he and equius did together. You remember the time that you went to pick up KK to take him pants shopping, for pants that fit him at the waist instead of the nipples, and you arrived early, only to walk in and find both of them practically stark naked, in only tied-off waist towels. Upon noticing your arrival they both began frantically apologizing. All the while, you're blushing like a child caught sneaking into the cookie jar. You acted like you were embarrassed, but secretly, you kind of enjoyed it. Seeing two burly, muscley guys, freshly showered, practically in the nude. You let your mind wander in and out of a sort of fantasy, when you feel your face getting warm. You quickly make note of that and decide to squash any sort of lewd fantasies you may have been having, as to avoid explaining why you're blushing so furiously. You begin to strike up a conversation with Karkat about some more meaningless stuff until your food gets here.

TZ-"So, Karkat, what are your thoughts on my apartment, like, the colors that it is?"

KK-"I think you should just keep it the way it is"

TZ-"oh, you don't think it should be a little more..._Exotic_?"

==Be the CEO======

You're pretty sure you know what Terezi means by exotic, but you're not for sure, so best to leave that thought alone.

KK-"well, whatever you want to do is fine, I mean it _is_ your apartment, but if you did change it I would probably say you should change it to someth-"

You're answer is interrupted by Gamzee furiously slamming his palm against the glass of the restaurant and waving at you. You both sheepishly wave back. How can he even see you, those windows are tinted?

You snap out of your temporal confusion when you see Equius bringing out your appetizers.

EQ-"Terribly sorry about the extended wait, the oysters were a bit...feisty tonight"

TZ-"Oh, it's no trouble"

KK-"Don't sweat it man"

You know by feisty, Equius means ravenous. The clams they serve here are imported all the way from the LOFAF tundra, where they range in size of grapes to grapefruits. And they won't go without a fight.

You and Terezi quietly enjoy your appetizers, slurping up oysters out of their shells, and munching on the cheesesticks, only ever so often hearing _mmm's _or aah's, clearly showing your satisfaction, much to Kurloz's liking, hopefully anyways.

In no time at all, Equius returns with your main course, bringing out steaming plates of assorted pasta dishes, topped with herbs you've only ever heard of once or twice. Then he brings you refills on your wine, along with the various sauces that accompany the meal, and silverware to enjoy your meal with.

You slowly enjoy your meal together, savoring every bite, along with every moment.

Almost immediately after finishing your meal, equius reappears with the dessert menu, slightly smiling

==Be the slight smiler======

You approach the couples table, handing them each a dessert menu, awaiting their choice. You try and keep down your smile, but it's pretty hard to, there are few feelings as good as those that come when you have everything figured out.

EQ-"We have a wide variety of desserts to choose from, made with some of the freshest ingredients available. Are there any that you would be interested in?"

There is a moment of silence while they choose which dessert they want, there is some small banter between the two, and then they finally decide what to order.

KK-"We would like the Zabaione à la Mode and the frozen Tiramisu"

EQ-"Excellent choice, now, what flavor of ice cream do you want with the zabaione?"

TZ-"Pistachio, please"

EQ-"Right away, ma'am"

Terezi looked a bit awkward when you called her ma'am, probably just a coincidence though. You scurry off back into the kitchen area to give Kurloz the order, and then head off to tend to the other guests.

==Be the awkward girl======

Eww, formal titles. You really can't stand to be called by any sort of formal title. Ma'am. Ms. Madame. No. None of that. Sorry.

You most likely picked that up from your cousin, Latula. She's a "R4D" gamer girl,who refuses to fit into any of societies bigoted molds. She never liked formal titles either.

You look up at Karkat, who seems to be nervous again. What is he so worried about, geesh. Is he going to break up with you tonight? Not that you're really too concerned about that farfetched idea, that would never happen, right?

==Be the worrying willie=====

I would appreciate it if you didn't refer to me as male genitalia, thank you.

Anyway, yes, you are worried, worried and nervous. This dessert is the tail end of the meal, and Equius has yet to deliver. He hasn't forgotten has he? No, no, Equius has probably the most elite memory of everyone he knows.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Equius frantically beckoning you to come to him, post-haste.

You excuse yourself from the table, again, and Terezi just flashes you this look that says

"bathroom, again, really?", and then you make your way over to equius.

EQ-"Listen, Karkat, I feel as though I must inform you of my method of delivery, as to insure that it plays out properly"

KK-"Alright then, lay it on me"

EQ-"Lay it...on you?"

KK-"The plan, tell me the plan"

EQ-"Oh, yes, of course"

Equius explains the entirety of his plan of execution, which was flawlessly thought feel a tinge of guilt arising for have ever doubting him in the first place.

You make your way back over to your seat, beaming at the flawless plan, and the relief it brought on your nerves.

This time, Kurloz brings out your next course, slightly happy looking, despite his soulless eyes and sewn lips. Obviously Equius queued him in on the whole thing. The two of you begin to enjoy your dessert together. You've never actually tried Tiramisu before, you just remember Kankri going on about how "delightfully delectable and airy" that Kanaya's was at his last church luncheon, then he began complaining about two teenagers who came dressed in short skirts and tight-fitting t-shirts, which he scolded them for. Tiramisu has a weird but truly wonderful flavor to it. Kankri wasn't joking with his praise.

After you finish your desserts, you beckon for Equius to bring the ticket,from which he promptly responds.

He sets the check down, and then ushers himself, and kurloz, back into the kitchen.

Was Kurloz standing there the whole time?

Anyways, it's time to fly or die.

You hand Terezi the ticket book, and ask her to sign it while you get out your debit card. You thoughtlessly rummage through your back pocket, while keeping your eyes on Terezi, whose eyes suddenly grow to the size of oranges.

==Be the anime troll======

You are utterly speechless, and quite frankly, shocked. You gaze down at the contents of the ticket book. There is the ticket, a carbon copy slip, a pen for signing, a few dinner mints, and…

A beautiful diamond ring. You quickly realize that this is no mistake, this ring is meant for you, I mean it has _YOUR _colors, the teal and candy red. You see Karkat fall down on one knee, and as he says those select words, you feel a surge of energy rush through you

KK-"Terezi...Will you marry me?"


End file.
